Pregnant Soap Star Forced to Smoke

I think we can all agree that smoking cigarettes during pregnancy is not a good idea. But apparently the people behind the long-running British soap opera "Coronation Street," haven't gotten the memo.

Alison King, who stars as Carla on "Street," is being asked to smoke as part of a new storyline that has been developed for her character. The actress and her boyfriend are expecting their first child, and evidently Alison gave up her smoking habit as soon as she discovered she was expecting. Supposedly the producers of the show have agreed to let her smoke herbal cigarettes during her scenes as a substitute for the usual nicotine ones. But a doctor with the British Lung Federation says even herbal cigarettes are potentially harmful because they also contain tar.

Really, can't the show still pursue the same plotline, in which Carla deals with some major stress, without forcing this woman to puff away? I mean, I am not a soap opera writer, but it seems like there are lots of ways to convey emotional fragility without necessarily bringing cigs into the picture.

If King agrees to go the herbal route and, God forbid, something goes wrong with her pregnancy or her child's health, she'd have a heck of a lawsuit on her hands. Assuming she's truly concerned about being tempted to turn to the nicotine sticks again, she might want to point that out to her bosses. If UK TV producers are anything like the ones in America, the prospect of a major lawsuit may magically result in some changes to the script.